diff --git a/qerror.c b/qerror.c
index af6ed39b25..c18641f927 100644
--- a/qerror.c
+++ b/qerror.c
@@ -400,6 +400,21 @@ static QString *qerror_format_desc(QDict *error,
     return qstring;
 }
 
+QString *qerror_format(const char *fmt, QDict *error)
+{
+    const QErrorStringTable *entry = NULL;
+    int i;
+
+    for (i = 0; qerror_table[i].error_fmt; i++) {
+        if (strcmp(qerror_table[i].error_fmt, fmt) == 0) {
+            entry = &qerror_table[i];
+            break;
+        }
+    }
+
+    return qerror_format_desc(error, entry);
+}
+
 /**
  * qerror_human(): Format QError data into human-readable string.
  */
diff --git a/qerror.h b/qerror.h
index df61d2c2c6..13ad9d4321 100644
--- a/qerror.h
+++ b/qerror.h
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ QString *qerror_human(const QError *qerror);
 void qerror_print(QError *qerror);
 void qerror_report_internal(const char *file, int linenr, const char *func,
                             const char *fmt, ...) GCC_FMT_ATTR(4, 5);
+QString *qerror_format(const char *fmt, QDict *error);
 #define qerror_report(fmt, ...) \
     qerror_report_internal(__FILE__, __LINE__, __func__, fmt, ## __VA_ARGS__)
 QError *qobject_to_qerror(const QObject *obj);